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closeScoreboard remains knotted after 80 minutes of action
Bonney Lake and Sumner fail to capitalize on opportunities, rivalry contest ends in a tie
Shaun Scott
In a contest where the Bonney Lake Panthers and the Sumner Spartans soccer teams each had an abundant number of shots on goal, only two found the back of the net.
When it was all over, the Panthers and Spartans finished the contest in a 1-1 tie on April 9 at Bonney Lake High School. It was the fifth tie of the season for both teams this year.
“We’re undefeated, but it doesn’t really feel like we’re undefeated,” Spartans coach Peter Voiles said. “But we have five ties and three wins. We wished we had more wins than ties.”
Sumner struck first when James Ray connected on a shot from 15 yards out, giving the Spartans a 1-0 lead in the 27th minute of the contest.
Following that goal, Voiles said he was hoping his team would capitalize on the momentum.
“The rule of soccer is after you score your first goal, the other team really steps their game up or you score again within the next five minutes,” Voiles said. “We didn’t keep our momentum going.”
After Sumner’s first goal, Bonney Lake turned up the intensity uncorking 20 shots on goal in the final 50 minutes of the game. As the minutes on the game clock began to dwindle, Bonney Lake finally hit pay dirt when Dayton Dillion blasted a shot past Sumner goalie Ryan Mace with 11 minutes remaining in the game. Dillion was on the receiving end of a great pass skipping low to the ground from teammate Nick Hall.
In the final minutes, both teams had four to five shots on goal that would have given them the lead. Sumner’s Philip Kyllo shot with 4 minutes, 30 seconds left was just inches away from giving his team the lead. Kyllo’s shot ricocheted off of the crossbar, falling harmlessly to the ground.
Bonney Lake coach Luke Helling-Christy said his heart was pounding when he saw Kyllo’s shot head toward the goal.
“That was heart stopping,” Helling-Christy said. “It was really close to going in.”
Voiles said the Spartans had its chances but couldn’t cash in when they needed to.
“We turned it up after they scored and started playing the way I know we can,” Voiles said. “You’ve got to play a whole game to be successful and we’re still working toward that.”
Despite the contest ending knotted in a tie, Helling-Christy believes the Panthers controlled the pace of the game.
“If someone out there was tracking time of possession, I bet we would have won that battle tonight,” Helling-Christy said. “We had so many shots on goal missed out on opportunities. We really took it to them.”
Helling-Christy said he is hopeful the wins will come as the season progresses.
“We’re not losing games but we’re not finishing the deal,” he said. “We still aren’t closing games out.”